in the worship of God Ceremonies no substantiall parts of Gods worship The crimination and a generall answer Of standing at Gloria Patri What will-worship is Standing at the Gospell Bowing at the name of Jesus Of the name of Altar and what sacrifice is admitted Of the standing of the Altar Of Communicants going up to the Altar to receive Of the railes Of bowing toward the Altar and to the East and turning that way when we pray Of reading the second Service at the Altar Chap. 15. Fol. 121. Innovation in the civill government slanderously pretended without proofe His slander of my Lords Grace of Canterbury about Prinnes Prohibition confuted Other calumnies against His Grace c. answered The Bishops falsely charged with dividing the King and His Subjects Chap. 16. Fol. 132. Of the altering of the Prayer-books The putting In for At. The leaving out of Father of thine elect c. no treason Master B. rather guilty His pretty shift about it and how he and some of his use the Prayers of the Church Of the Prayers for the fifth of November altered Those Prayers not confirmed by act of Parliament The Religion of the Church of Rome not Rebellion Of the alterations in the last Fast-booke The restraint of preaching Fasting-dayes no Sabbaths Chap. 17. Fol. 150. Of the sixth pretended Innovation in the meanes of Knowledge The Knowledge of God necessary The Scriptures the key of Knowledge Impious to take them away or hinder the knowledge of them The difference between the Scriptures and Sermons How faith is begotten of Rom. 10. 17. The Word of God must be rightly divided what it is so to do Chap. 18. Fol. 162. Of the seventh pretended Innovation in the Rule of Faith What matters of Religion are submitted to the Bishops decision The Doctrine of our Articles The properties of the Bishops decisions Master Burtons clamors against the Bishops in this particular odious and shamefull Of that speech which he ascribeth to the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury concerning the Catholick Church What is justly attributed to the Church and how wee ordinarily come to know the Scriptures to be Scriptures Chap. 19. Fol. 170. Of the jurisdiction of Bishops how far of Divine right given by Christ to his Apostles and from them derived by succession The power given to the Apostles divided into severall orders What power Ecclesiasticall belongs to the King and the intent of the Statutes which annexe all Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction to the Crowne Of Mr. Burtons Quotation of the Iesuits direction to be observed by N. N. M. B. and the Iesuite confederates in detraction and ignorance Chap. 20. Fol. 182. The last Innovation in the Rule of manners The Scriptures acknowledged to be the sole rule of manners and how Old Canons how in force The Act before the Communion-booke doth not forbid the use of ancient and pious customes Master B. incurring the penalty of that Statute Of Cathedrall Churches The argument from them frees the rites and ceremonies there used from novelty and superstition Of the Royall Chappell His dangerous insinuations referred to the censure of Authority The Close Chap. 21. Fol. 193. A briefe Discourse of the beginning and progresse of the Disciplinarian Faction Their sundry attempts for their Genevian Dearling Their Doctrines new and different from the true and ancient tenets of the Church of England and they truly and rightly termed Innovators REcensui librum hunc cui titulus est Innovations unjustly charged c. in quo nihil reperio quô minùs cum utilitate publicâ imprimatur Iune 17. 1637. Sa. Baker R. P. Episc Londin Cap. domest INNOVATIONS UNJUSTLY CHARGED UPON THE PRESENT CHURCH and STATE CHAP. I. An Introduction to the ensuing Discourse containing the reasons inducing the Author to undertake it and his aime in it IT is better in the judgement of St Melius errantis imperitiam silentio spernere quaÌ„ loquendo dementu insaniam provocare Nec hoc sue â—â—gistâ—â—ii diviniâ—eâ— nominis aucteritate faciebam c. Cypr. ad Demetrian Cyprian by silence to condemne the ignorance of the erroneous than by speaking to provoke the fury of the enraged And for this judgement of his he had the warrant as hee saith of divine authority And certainly it must needs be a great point of folly to grapple with those who as that Father of Demetrianus by the noyse of clamorous words seek rather to get vent and passage for their owne than patiently to hear the opinions of others it being more easie to still the waves of the troubled sea than by any discourse to represse the madnesse of such men To undertake such a task therefore is but a vaine attempt and of no more effect than to hold a light to the blinde to speake to the deafe or to instruct a stone Foule-mouth'd railers and barking dogs are soonest still'd by passing on our way in silence or by severe and due correction Yet notwithstanding this rule is not without some exception and therefore Solomon who giveth this counsell not to answer a foole according Prov. 26. 4 5. to his folly addes in the next words as it were a crosse-proverb to it bidding us Answer a foole according to his folly lest he be wise in his owne conceit In that case an answer to clamorous and slanderous railers whom the Wise-man comprises under the name of fooles is not unfit or unseasonable And there are no doubt other cases in which without deserving the imputation of folly a man may yea and it is expedient that he should make answer to the envenomed railings of imbittered spirits And if at any time surely then when such detractors are not onely wise in their owne conceits but which is more have enveigled many simple and perhaps otherwise well-meaning people and drawne them to an opinion of their wisedome and beliefe and approbation of their false and wicked calumnies Much more when they levell their poisoned arrows of detraction against the Soveraigne Power and against the Fathers of the Church which if they should prevaile would wound and endanger the setled government and peace of both Church and State In such case it cannot be accounted rashnesse for any true-hearted subject and sonne of the Church to breake an otherwise resolved silence to prevent what in him is the growth of so great a mischiefe I will adde one other particular When men shall be so impiously presumptuous as to break into the secrets of the Almighty and peremptorily to pronounce of his unscrutable judgements as if they had beene his counsellors and to cast the causes of the present plague and all the evills that have lately threatned or befallen us upon those men to whom next under God we owe and in duty ought to acknowledge our preservation hitherto and that the plague and other evils have no more raged amongst us yea and upon those meanes which God hath sanctified for the removall of his judgements It is high time then to speake lest silence
when all the world knows both that they are the Kings and that he cannot be ignorant that they are so But of this before They hold and teach that it is more agreeable to Christian piety to be blinde rather than thus quick-sighted in our obedience and approve that of S. Gregory True obedience doth not discusse Vera obedientia nec Praepositorum intentionem discutit nec praecepta dece nit nescit enim judicare quisquis perfectè didicerit obedire D. Greg. l. 2. c. 4. in 1 Reg. the intention of superiours nor make difference of precepts He that hath learned perfectly to obey knowes not how to judge To be blind so as not to see the imperfections and failings of Superiours nor to be lesse ready for these to performe their commands and to looke onely at Him whose place they hold To be blind so as not to search the reason or to look at the causes why but to thinke it enough to know the things to be commanded and by them that are in place and power Lastly They would have obedience to be better sighted and not so blind as M. Burton hath shewed himselfe They would have obedience to have eyes to see what God commands as well as what the King and to discerne God to be the greater of the two and to be obeyed in the first place but they would not have men mistake their owne dreames and fancies for Gods commands And not this onely but to see what is commanded by their superiours and who it is that commands and to know them to be Gods Deputies to whom obedience is due as unto God himselfe And they have learned of Solomon that where the word of a King is there is power and who may Eccles 8. 2. say unto him what dost thou This is no novell Iesuiticall doctrine but sound Divinity and that which this Church ever taught and the Law of the Land ever approved if it be good Law which was long agoe delivered by Bracton with which Bract. de leg consuet Ang. c. 8. Ipse sc Rex sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo Si ab eo peccatur c. I will shut up this point The King saith hee is under none but onely God And a little after If he do amisse because no writ goes out against him there is place for supplication that he would correct and amend his deed which if he doe not it is enough punishment for him that the Lord will punish it For no man must presume to enquire or discusse his actions much lesse to goe against them CHAP. IX Of the Doctrine of the Sabbath and Lords-day falsely accused of Novelty The summe of what is held or denyed in this point by those whom Mr B. opposeth The Churches power and the obligation of her precepts The maintainers of this doctrine have not strained their braines or conscience THe last innovation in doctrine that he mentions pag. 126 is concerning the doctrine of the Sabbath or Lords-day wherein he saith our novell Doctors have gone about to remove the institution of it from the foundation of Divine authority and so to settle it upon the Ecclesiasticall or humane power Thus he But in this as in the rest he betrayes most grosse and palpable ignorance and malice 1. In that he accuseth that doctrine of novelty which was ever as hath beene sufficiently demonstrated the doctrine of the Ancient Church and of the Church of England and of the reformed Churches beyond the Seas and the principall of the learned among them as Calvin Beza c. 2. In accusing those that teach this doctrine with removing the institution of the Lords day from the foundation of divine Authority See B. of Ely p. 271. c. edit 1. which taken together and as he delivers it is most false For They acknowledge the appointing of set times and dayes to the publick and solemn worship and service of God to be not onely divine but morall and perpetuall and that the common and naturall equity of the fourth Commandement B. of Ely p. 120 obligeth all man-kinde to the end of the world Secondly They affirme that the institution of the Lords day and other set and definite dayes 2 De dispens c. c. 12. Quid enim interest utrū per se an per suos ministros sive homines sive Angelos hominibus innotescat suum placitum Deus and times of Gods worship is also of divine authority though not immediately but by the Church which received her power from the holy Ghost and that Christian people are to observe the dayes so ordained in obedience to the equity of the fourth Commandement to which those dayes are subordinate and their observation to be reduced Thirdly they grant that the resting from labour on the Lords day and Christian holy 3 B. of Ely p. 121 dayes in respect of the generall is both grounded upon the law of nature and the perpetuall equity of the fourth Commandement Fourthly they grant a speciall sense of that 4 Commandement of perpetuall obligation So that they have not absolutely removed the institution of the Lords day from the foundation of divine Authority Nor is the fourth Commandement wholly abolished as he falsely and unjustly clamours That which they deny in this doctrine and concerning the fourth Commandement may be reduced under these heads They deny the fourth Commandement to be wholly morall so doth M. Burton Particularly they deny the morality and perpetuall obligation of that Commandement as it concernes the seventh day from the creation which is our Saturday And this is the Apostles Col. 2. 17. doctrine who calls it a shadow which M. Burton also granteth They deny that the peculiar manner of the sanctification of the Iewish or seventh-day Sabbath in the observation of a strict and totall rest and surcease from ordinary labours can by vertue of that commādement be extended to the Lords day or Christian holy dayes but that it together with the day on which it was required is expired and antiquated And this also M. Burton must needs grant 1. Because there is the same reason of the day and the rest required upon it both being appointed for a memoriall of Gods rest from his worke of creation and other typicall respects 2. Because otherwise he will contradict his fellowes and those that side with him in this argument who generally allow some Perkins cases Amesius Med. Theol. l. 2. c. 15. n. 23. things to bee lawfully done on the Lords day which on the Jewish Sabbath were not permitted They deny that the fourth Commandement determins the set time of Gods publick worship either to one day in the revolution of seven or to any other seventh save onely that which is there mentioned and that therefore the Lords day cannot thence bee said to have its institution as being another day than that which the Commandement speaks of which to conceive to be there meant is to
no where doth to the Priests or Deacons but more clearely by the ancient Canons and writings of the Fathers in the primitive B. Andrewes Resp ad Epist Moâ—inaei 1. 3. Tortur Terti p. 151. Church That which results from all this is That to affirme the Episcopall order or authority as it is meerely spirituall to bee received not from the King but from God and Christ and derived by continuall succession from the Apostles is no false or arrogant assertion nor prejudicall to the Kings prerogative royall and so not dangerous to those that shall so affirme or that challenge and exercise their jurisdiction in that name For the further demonstration hereof I will also briefly set downe what power in causes Ecclesiasticall is due and challenged by the King and other Soveraigne Civill Magistrates what Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction is annexed to the Crowne of this Realme which the Bishops must acknowledg thence to be received and exercised in that right My first conclusion shall be in the words of Conclu 1 our thirty seventh Article where the power of Artic. 37. Kings in causes Ecclesiasticall is described to bee only That they should rule all estates and degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiasticall or Temporall and restraine with the Civill Sword the stubborne and evill doers other authority than this as Queene Elizabeth in her Injunctions His Majesty neither doth ne ever will Qu. Eliz. Injunct challenge nor indeed is due to the Imperiall Crowne either of this or any other Realme Where I observe two things wherein the Soveraigne authority of Princes in causes Ecclesiasticall doth consist First in ruling Ecclesiasticall persons under which are comprised 1 their power to command and provide that spirituall persons do rightly and duly execute the spirituall duties belonging to their functions 2 to make and ordaine Lawes to that end and for the advancement and establishing of piety and true Religion and the due and decent performance of Divine worship and for the hinderance and extirpation of all things contrary thereunto Secondly in punishing them as well as others when they offend with the Civill Sword Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall persons being offenders are not exempt from the coercive power of the King but that he may punish them as well as others but it is with the Gladium spiritualem stringere est Episcoporum non Regum quan quam hic licet Episcoporum manu piorum tamen Regum sancto monitu et evaginari in vaginam recondi solet Mason de Minist Ang. l. 4. c. 1. Civill Sword as that only which he beareth not with the Ecclesiasticall or by the sentence of Excommunication It belongs to Bishops and not to Kings to draw the Spirituall Sword yet that is also wont to be unsheathed and sheathed at the godly command and motion of religious Kings And they may as pious Princes use second yea and prevent the spirituall Sword and with the Civill as namely with bodily and pecuniary punishment compell his subjects as well Ecclesiasticall as Temporall to the performance of the duties of both Tables My second conclusion or as I may rather Conclu 2 terme it my inference upon the former is That the Bishops having any civill power annexed to their places and exercising the same either in judging any civill causes or inflicting temporall punishments whether bodily or pecuniary have and use that power wholly from the King and by his grace and favour in his right That the Episcopall jurisdiction even as it is Conclu 3 truly Episcopall and meerely spirituall though in it selfe it be received only from God yet in asmuch it is exercised in his Majesties Dominions and upon his subjects by his Majesties consent command and royall Protection according to the Canons and Statutes confirmed by his Authority nothing hinders but that thus-farre all Ecclesiasticall Authority and jurisdiction may bee truly said to be annexed to the Crowne and derived from thence And this onely is the intent of those Statutes which annex the Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction to the Crowne Which notwithstanding it may truly bee affirmed that the Bishops have their function and jurisdiction for the substance of it as it is meerely spirituall and so properly Ecclesiasticall by Divine right and only from Christ and that it is derived by a continuall and uninterrupted succession from the Apostles But if Master Burton conceive that the Bishops affirme that they have power to exercise this their spirituall jurisdiction within His Majesties Dominions and over His Subjects of themselves and without licence and authoritie from His Majestie Or that their temporalities their revenewes their Dignities to bee Barons of the Parliament c. or the authority that they have and use either to judge in Causes temporall or to inflict temporall punishments belong to them by Divine right or otherwise than by the favour of his Majesty and his predecessors hee makes them as absurdly ignorant and presumptuous as himselfe The other thing which I cannot let passe is that which he here cites out of the Iesuites pamphlet intituled A direction to be observed by N. N. c. wherein the Iesuit it seemes applauds the present state of our Church as comming on towards Vnion with Rome The temper and moderation of the Arch Bishop and some other learned prelates and the allowance of some things in these dayes which in former times were counted superstitious as the names of Priests and altars and the acknowledging the visible beeing of the Protestant Church for many ages to have beene in the Church of Rome c. My purpose is not here to enter the lists with the Iesuite who I doubt not ere long will bee more sufficiently answered than I have either leisure or ability to doe All that I shall say for the present is First that Master B. is willing it seemes to take dirt from any Dunghill to cast in the face of his Mother the Church of England and that though hee professe such mortall hate to Rome that the last affinity with her though many times but imaginary makes him breake forth into strange expressions of his abomination Yet hee can bee content to joyne hands with the worst of the Romanists the Iesuites and use their aide to slander and make odious the Church in which hee was bred But it is no Innovation this it hath beene a long practise of the Faction whereof he is now ambitious to become a captaine both to joyne with them in their principles and to make use of their weapons to fight against the Church wherein they live Secondly It is manifest from hence that the Iesuite and he are confederates in detraction and ignorance of the Doctrine of our Church which both of them judge of not by the authorised Doctrine publikely subscribed or the regular steps of those that have continued in the use of her ancient and laudable customes rites and ceremonies but by their owne humours and uncertaine reports of some
factiously-minded persons It being usuall with such men of both parties to mistake the religion professed on either side and as Master B. condemnes all that of Popery and superstition that is crosse to his fancied crotchets though it be the doctrine that hath been ever taught in the Church of Christ and sometimes such as himselfe hath subscribed So the Iesuites on the other side use to charge our Church with all those tenets which they finde to bee by any among us without respect had either to the consent they have with the publickly received doctrine or to the judiciall approbation that such opinions which we many times detest as much if not more than they have from any authorised act of the Church otherwise both the Iesuite and hee might have knowne that many for some of them are but meere fictions and slanders of the things they accuse of novelty have beene ever agreeable to the doctrine of this Church For who knowes not that the names of Priests and Altars are no such strangers in our Church that any man should bee fearefull of using them such as have staggered at them have beene justly counted more nice than wise Especially the name of Priest which both our booke of Common-prayer and of Ordination have ever used and kept on foot though it sounded but harshly to some eares And for that which the Iesuite cals fiery Calvinisme if he meane the Geneva discipline founded by him or any singular opinions which hee holds wherein there hath appeared more heate than truth I confesse it hath beene and is the more is the pitty the Darling of many in England but without either Canon or countenance from Authority The Church of England in reforming of Romish errors tooke no patterne from Geneva nor followed any private mans oppinion and her wisest and most judicious sons as they honour the learning and good parts of any and of Master Calvin among yea and in some things haply above others so they have ever on the other side thought it an injury to receive their denomination from any doctrine but that which is publickly taught and avowed by our owne Church and all the innovation that may seeme to bee in them is only that by the negligence of some that have beene in place or rather from their inability than to foresee the mischiefe that now since appeares contrary tenets and practices have growne so into such fashion that the Churches true tenets and rites being revived seeme no lesse strange and new than the old English habits would be judged among our present Courtiers Or perhaps which I know not why any man should be ashamed of that learning and industry being increased and the heat of contention allayed men begin to judge of opinions not by the authors but by the truth and so some things which by some have beene blasted for Popish and superstitions and by others taken up upon their credit to be such by judicious triall are found consonant to the truth of Christian religion and our Churches doctrine Neither can any without bewraying either malice or grosse ignorance call this a warping toward Popery or that Protestantisme among us waxeth wearie of it selfe when the doctrine and profession in all this seeming variation remaines still the same and unaltered CHAP. XX. The last Innovation in the Rule of manners The Scriptures acknowledged to be the sole rule of manners and how Old Canons how in force The Act before the Communion-book doth not forbid the use of ancient and pious customes Master B. incurring the penalty of that Statute Of Cathedrall Churches The argument from them frees the rites and ceremonies there used from novelty and superstition Of the Royall Chappell His dangerous insinuations referred to the censure of Authority The Close I Am now at last gotten to the eighth and last Innovation or change which he saith is in the rule of manners which rule is changed from the Word of Christ and the examples of the holy Apostles pag. 156. wherein they followed Christ to the example of the Prelates lives and the dictates of their writings An ill change certainly But where is this rule by them prescribed That he neither doth or can tell us but according to his old wont falls a railing against his Majesties Declaration for sports upon the Sundaies and against those whom he calls Anti-Sabbatarians for allowing of it notwithstanding as hath beene already sufficiently demonstrated it is no way contrary but consonant to the Word of God which they whom he taxes allow and acknowledge as the sole rule of Christian life though not so as hee would have it that a man may doe nothing either in his civill conversation or in things pertaining to the time place manner and other circumstances in the worship of God which is not to bee found in the Scriptures though commanded by superiors invested with authority from God himself And however this is no proofe of his assertion for hee cannot bring any instance wherein they propound their owne lives for a patterne or rule of Christians practise in this no nor in any other case Nay I dare boldly say that if Master B. and such as joyne with him in opinion would give the Prelates of our Church that which our blessed Saviour commanded to bee given while the Iewish Church continued to the Scribes and Pharisees who sate in Moses seate To observe and doe that Mat. 23. 2. 3. which they command them and that only wherein they command not contrary to the duty of their places or to the Word of God They will easily dispense with them for observing any further rule or for doing after their workes though it cannot be said of them as our Saviour did of the Scribes and Pharisees that they say and doe not Having nothing more to say to this point but senselesse repetitions of his old declamatory or incendiary language For a close he brings certaine arguments framed in defence of the pretended Innovations which he answers with as much confidence and little reason as hee hath used hitherto in the charging of them for such First hee saith our changers plead That they pag. 158. bring in no changes but revive those things which ancient Canons have allowed and prescribed To this he answers That in this Land wee are not to be ruled by the Popes Canons or Canon-law but by the Law of God and of the King But by his favour I must tell him that neither the Law of God nor of the King doth disallow the use of the Old Canons and Constitutions though made in the time of Popery and by the Pope or Popish Prelates which are not contrary to the Law of God or of the King which yet he hath not and indeed cannot justly charge any of those things to be which he quarrels If hee desire proofe of this let him consider whether the Stat. 25. Hen. 8. 19. doe not say as much as I affirme Where having regulated divers things touching
but to assert the Doctrine of St. Paul commanding Phil. 2. 12. us to Work out our salvation with feare and trembling and of St. Peter who tells us 2 Pet. 1. 11. That thus an entrance shall bee ministred into the everlasting Kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ And I beleeve for I have not the Booke at hand if Mr. Shelfords justification by charity be well examined it will proove to bee no other than this at least no other than in St. Iames Iam. 2. 24. sense when he saith Yee see how that by works a man is justified and not by faith onely And I would demand of any reasonable man whether the expresse words of that Apostle may not without aspersion of Popery be even openly and publikely maintained if there be no sense obtruded upon them which may crosse St. Pauls doctrine which Mr. Burton can never prove that they did whom hee chargeth with that assertion But the the truth is such is the humour that possesses many men of Mr. Burtons straine that they cannot endure any glosse upon that place of St. Iames but such as shall both make the Text like themselves full of non-sence and to turne the seeming and verball into a reall and direct contradiction of St. Paul To the third That the Pope is not Antichrist I answere that though many of the learned in our Church especially at the beginning of the ReformatioÌ„ when the greatest heat was strickeÌ„ between us and Rome have affirmed the Pope to be Antichrist and his whole religion Antichristian and that some exceeding the bounds of moderation in this point have passed abroad that with the license of authority wherein yet they are to be excused in that they have beene so intolerably provoked by the odious criminations of the adversary yet to them that calmely and seriously consider it it may not without good reason bee disputed as doubtfull whether the Pope or any of them in his person or the Papall Hierarchy bee that great Antichrist which is so much spoken of And which way soever it be determined it makes not the religion any whit the better nor frees the practises of the Popes and Court of Rome from being justly accounted and stiled Antichristian For Mr. Shelfords second Book I have not seene it and therefore will say nothing but onely that if hee seeme to set as they thinke too light by preaching and pulpits hee doth at the worst but pay them in their owne coine who have magnified it to the vilifying and contempt of publick Prayer the most sacred and excellent part of Gods worship Neither have I seene that other Booke called the Female glory nor will I spend words by way either of censure or defence of it upon sight onely of those fragments which here hee presents us with as well knowing his art and at what rate to value his credit in quotations Yet in all those panegyrick straines of Rhetorick for such for the most part they seeme rather than positiue assertions he hath not deviated so much to the one extreme as Mr. Burtons marginall hath to the other in scoffingly calling her the New great Goddesse Diana And if it bee true that hee hath not digressed in any particular Lo here the new great goddesse Diana whom the whole Pontifician world worshippeth H. B. p. 125. from the Bishop of Chichester as Mr. Burton makes him affirme I dare boldly say Mr. Burton will never bee able to finde the least point of Popery in it For it is well known that Bishop whom he as if hee had bid adieu to all civility yea and shame too termes a tried Champion of Rome and so a devout votary to the Queene of heaven hath approved himselfe such a Champion against Rome that they that have tried his strength durst never yet come to a second encounter Beside we have elsewhere other points of Pag. 67. Popish Doctrine which he saith are preached and printed of late As Auricular Confession Prayer for the dead and praying to Saints Which because I finde onely mentioned by him without any proofe to evidence the truth of his assertion I might with one word reject till hee produced the Authors which have so Preached and Printed and what it was that they have delivered touching those points But because there are many that by reason of their ignorance of the truth in these points are apt to beleeve what he affirmes and to entertaine a sinister opinion of the Churches Doctrine in them I will briefly adde some of them in this place First for Confession It cannot bee denied Of Confession but that the Church of England did ever allow the private confession of sinnes to the Priest for Booke of Common Prayer Exhortation before the Communion the quieting of mens consciences burdened with sinne and that they may receive ghostly counsell advice and comfort and the benefit of absolution This is the publike Order prescribed in our Church And it were very strange if our Church ordaining Priests and giving them power of absolution and prescribing the forme to bee used Forme of absolution in the Visitation of the sick for the exercise of that power upon confession should not also allow of such private confession To advise then and urge the use and profit of private confession to the Priest is no Popish Innovation but agreeable to the constant and resolved Doctrine of this Church and that which is requisite for the due execution of that ancient power of the Keyes which Christ bestowed upon his Church And if any shall call it auricular because it is done in private and in the eare of the Priest I know not why hee should therefore bee condemned of Popery But if Mr. Burton by Auricular Confession meane that Sacramentall Confession which the Councell of Trent hath defined to bee of absolute necessity by Divine ordinance and that which exacts that many times impossible particular enumeration of every sinne and the speciall circumstances of every sinne This wee justly reject as neither required by God nor so practised by the ancient See Bishop Ushers answer to Iesuites â—chall Church And if Mr. Burton knowes any that hath Preached or Printed ought in defence of this new pick-lock and tyrannicall sacramentall Confession hee may if he please with the Churches good leave terme them in that point Popish Innovators For the second point Simply to condemne Of prayer for the dead all prayer for the Dead is to runne counter to the constant practise of the ancient Church of Christ Prayer for the dead it cannot bee denied it is ancient saith the late learned Bishop of Winchester That the ancient Church had Commemorations Oblations and prayers for the dead the testimonies of the Fathers Ecclesiasticall Histories and ancient Liturgies in which the formes of Prayers used for that purpose are Cannon 55. found doe put out of all question and they that are acquainted with the Canons and Liturgy
same Answer may serve to Mr. B. second reason which is drawn from their writings positions and doctrines which Second and third reasons they the Romanists professe and teach concerning the Popes usurped power and Soveraigntie over all Kings and Kingdomes of the earth And likewise to the third for both of them conclude no more than this That some Popish Authours exalt the Popes power over the Kings in deposing and exposing their Persons to the danger of Rebels and Traytors and that Popes of late have usurped that power which our Protestant Writers and by name these which Mr. B. citeth Dr. Iohn White and Dr. Crackenthorp and our Church-Homilies doe clearely prove and justly condemne as Anti-christian For all that can be rightly hence inferred will not reach the Religion or Faith it selfe which admit that these were parts of it is of farre larger extent and different nature than to receive it's Denomination from these few principles or some men's or Pope's practises To make this cleare by an instance wherein I am sure Mr. B. would be loath to admit this reasoning for true Logick Some Genevians and some of ours that learn'd it from See Chr. Goodman's treatise of obedience printed at Geneva p. 206. c Dangerous positions and proceedings for disciplne them allow the Deposition of Tyrannicall and Idolatrous Princes and Rulers and the Peoples rising against them commend Traytors for good men and their Treasons for godly enterprizes approve of private mens killing them as set on by God and in a word goe as farre in this kinde l. 1. c 5. Bucanan de jure Regni p 57. Alsted Syst Polit 2. cap. 3. Si tamen administratores of ficium suum facere no in t si impia iniqua mandent si contra dilectionem Dei proximi agant populus propriae salutis curam arripiet imperium male utentibus abrogabit in locum eorum alios substituet pag. 141. as the boldest and bloudiest among the Iesuites and are in this worse than they in that the Iesuites alledge their obedience therein and zeale to an higher authority pretended to bee in the Pope But these hold the right of Soveraigntie to be in the People and allow them to bee their owne carvers of their liberty If any man should be reupon conclude that the Genevian Religion were Rebellion and Faith faction I suppose Master B. would and for my part though I detest and abhorre these principles as most wicked and unchristian I should thinke they said more than they proved and so I thinke Master B. hath here done against the Papists The last book he mentions is the last Fast-book which with hideous out-cries he here and often in other places complaines that they have gelded as hee termes it and made a mock-fast of it c. and that contrary to the Kings expresse proclamation which ordereth the booke for the former fast to be reprinted and published There be two things that he quarrels against them in this First the alterations Secondly the restraint of preaching in places infected For the first he saith they have altered the booke in such wise as he being a man very tender in that kind and not willing to waive authority or to do things without warrant from it doth not see how any man may read it as being contrary to the proclamation But I would demand whether the proclamation were expresly for the having the former booke reprinted without any alteration if not as it is most evident that there was no such thing expressed then can it not bee said to bee contrary to it for contraries must both have a being and then onely could it have been said to bee contrary if another and not that had beene printed which this might still bee said to bee though in some things altered which is a common speech in matter of bookes and other things where the bulk remaining there are made as great and many times greater alterations than here were any But what were these alterations First in the first Collect this remarkable pious sentence was pag. 142. left out Thou hast delivered us from superstition and Idolatry wherein we were utterly drowned and hast brought us into the most cleere and comfortable light of thy blessed Word by the which we are taught how to serve and honour thee and how to live orderly with our neighbours in truth and verity But what of that Loe here saith he these men the Bishops would not have Popery to bee called Superstition and Idolatry nor would they have the Word of God commended as that cleare and comfortable light which teacheth us all duties to God and man But the man is farre and wide from truth in this fond conjecture I dare boldly say there was no such thing thought on It is out of question for ought I know with Protestants that in Popery there are many grosse superstitions and Idolatries and that the Word of God is that cleare and comfortable light which teacheth us all things necessary to salvation But men may be good Protestants and yet not damne all their fore-fathers who lived before the reformation as he must doe that saith of them that they were wholly drowned in Idolatry and without the light of Gods Word to teach them to serve God and live orderly with their neighbours which though Master B. perhaps will not some men may thinke to be reason sufficient for the leaving out of that sentence But secondly they have left out a whole Collect true and perhaps it was thought fit so to be not for any thing conteined in it but only to abridge the length of the service which I know some of Master Burton's humour did as much grumble at when that first booke was appointed and tooke more liberty of shortening it than that comes to His conceit that they did it because in it preaching was commended is groundlesse and the dreame onely of a distemper'd fancy and shall receive from me the answer it deserves silence And that is the best answer also that I can give to that which followes about the clause left out in the last page in the order for the Fast which he would have the people beleeve was done because they esteemed fasting a meritorious worke but so without all shew of ground or reason that it were a vanity second to none but his to spend time and words about it And what hath Master B. or any other to doe with the leaving out of the Lady Elizabeth and her children which hee might well beleeve was done either not without his Majesties consent or at least that would soone come to His knowledge who Himselfe had the same prayers read in his Royall Chappell Nay I le tell thee more it was exactly done according to the last edition of the Common prayer-booke and His Majesties speciall direction in this particular as Master B. and I have beene often told by our betters Surely it was a great oversight that when Master
the exercise of Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction at last the Statute concludes with this proviso Provided also that such Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synodalls provinciall Stat. 25. Hen. 8. 19. being already made which be not contrariant nor repugnant to the Lawes Statutes and Customes of this Realme nor to the damage or hurt of the Kings Prerogative Royall shall now still be used and executed as they were afore the making of this Act till such time as they be viewed searched or otherwise ordered and determined by the said two and thirty persons or the more part of them according to the tenour forme and effect of this present Act. It followes then that till those thirty two persons determine otherwise old Canons may bee still executed and retaine their ancient vigor and authority and when that will be I know not but as yet I am sure it hath not been done As for that which he saith he heard a Popish Canon alledged in the High Commission in opposition to a Parliament Statute unlesse he had brought us the Particular I will crave leave to put that among the rest of his incredible fictions which hee hath foisted upon that Honorable Court and those that sit Iudges in it And whereas heads that the Act of Parliament prefixed to the Communion-booke restraines Rites and Ceremonies to bee used in our Church to those only which are expressed in the same booke under the penalty of imprisonment c. I grant that the Statute doth forbid the use of any other rite ceremonie order forme or manner of celebrating of the Lords Supper Mattens or Evensong c. than is set forth in the said booke But this doth not hinder the retaining of any laudable and pious customes then and of a long time before in use in the Church which are no way contrary to the forme or rites prescribed in the booke of Common prayer For where is it said in that booke that men during the time of Divine Service or of prayer and the Letany shal sit with their hats off and uncovered and yet that ceremony is piously observed by all that have any religion in them * Sine scripto jus venit quod usus approbavit nam diuturni mores consensu utentium comprobaâ—i legem imitantur Iustin Instit l. 1. Tit. 2. Consuetudo est jus quoddam moribus institutum quod pro lege suscipitur cum deficit lex Gratian. Distinct 1. c. 5. In his rebus de quibus nihil certi statuit diving scriptura mospopuâ—i Dei vel instituta maâ—orum pro lege tenenda sâ—nt Aug. Ep. 86. Custome not contrary to Law or good reason hath ever obteined the force of a law and in things of this nature the pious customes of Gods people as Saint Aug speakes are to be held for lawes And being so must or at least may lawfully be observed till some law expressely cry them downe which I am sure the Common-prayer-book nor any Statute yet hath done And if Master B. shall not allow this for good reason he will doe himselfe more prejudice by it than those whom hee opposeth for besides that he will bee at a stand what gesture to use in many things which are yet left there undetermined His present practice in many things must needs be condemned as having no warrant or prescription in that booke For I would for instance faine know where in that booke his rite of carrying the blessed Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ up and downe the Church to the receivers pewes is to be found Where hee hath any allowance of singing a Psalme while hee is administring where or by what Statute those meetred Psalmes were ever allowed to be sung at all in the Church And if he can plead custome or however practice these and many others like them which might bee reckoned up without the warrant of the Common Prayer-book Why may not the same plea hold as strongly for those which he oppugnes which saving that hee hath called them all to nought are neither against the Word of God nor booke of Common-prayer but most decent and religious and venerable for their antiquity in the Church of God Nay if the not being in the booke of Common-prayer shall bee enough to exclude all rites and ceremonies from being used in the Church and that upon so great a danger as imprisonment c. Therâ— surely such as are contrary to the expresse orders there prescribed must much more be excluded their practice expose men more deservedly to the same danger And certainely Master B. by this meanes would be but in an ill case many others especially of his faction For how could they justifie their not reading of Gloria Patri at the end of every Psalme their addition of those words to the Lords Prayer for thine is the Kingdome the power c. when they finde it not there printed Their Christening of children after divine Service and the Sermon is ended their consummation of the whole forme of Marriage in the body of the Church without going to the Communion-Table and their churching of women other where than by that table and many other things which are contrary to the expresse words of the * If any person c. shall c. speake any thing in derogation depraving of the same book or of any thing therein contained c. every such person beeing thereof lawfully convicted shall forfeit for the first offence 100. markes for the second 400. for the 3. all his goods and chattels and suffer imprisonment during his life Stat. 1. Eliz 2. Rubrick yea which is more than all this how can Master B. bee excused from the penalty imposed by that Statute for depraving speaking against the reading of the second or Communion service at the Communion Table beeing so appointed in that booke These things considered it may justly be wondred at why the Statute should bee so strait-laced to some as not to admit any ceremony to be used but those that are prescribed and mentioned in the Common-prayer booke though commended by antiquity and the practice of the most judicious and of greatest authority in the Church and yet so indulgent to others as to suffer them freely to use what they thinke good and to wave the orders there prescribed and to deprave and speake against them at their pleasure But let us heare what more he hath to say Besides all this saith he these men have one speciall Sanctuary to fly unto and that is their Cathedrall Churches Well what then nay stay and give him leave first to empty his stomack for we may well thinke he cannot name Cathedrall Churches without moving his vomit which hee utters plentifully both against those places and those that belong to them with all their furniture vestments yea and the divine Service that is used in pag. 160. them And having thus cleared himselfe of that cholericke and bitter stuffe which I loath to pudle in he propounds